2002

2002:

Januar

09 – I et interview med det britiske magasin Classic Rock, fortÃ¦ller Slash, at han har oplÃ¸st Snakepit. Slash:Â “You canâ€™t reinvent the start of Snakepit. That was my little thing, and it was a blast, seeing all those guys kind of doing it for the first time, but I was kind of carrying everybody through that.”

“That’s so f*cking sad that he (Axl) has to be that insecure. That he can’t even let a partner in life [into the venue to see him perform], ‘cause it’s not just a band, there’s millions of rock and roll bands, but GUNS N’ ROSES was the people’s f*ckin’ band. What they did to me as a personal member was bad enough, but that’s so wrong not to let [Slash] in, let him onstage. Not even let him play! I’m pissed that [Axl] didn’t give me a call! I sent him a letter. I’d love to talk to him. It’s only been 12 years. I have nothing against him, whatever he said, whatever happened in the past, happened, it’s old. It was just f*ckin’ news, it’s f*ckin’ over. We were young. We know how to rock, obviously. You don’t need all these issues. But, I have to say, Axl was the greatest frontman ever, period.”

09 – Steven Adler fortalte igennem sin officielle side, at han ville overveje at danne en ny version af GnR med Slash, Izzy og Duff, men uden Axl.:Â “I think that would be totally great, too, but it’s not the same. It’s like the STONES without Mick Jagger. But, I would love to do a record with those guys and like have Eric Dover, who was on Slash’s solo record, f*ckin’ sing. But without Axl – you need to hear the voice, it’s like QUEEN without Freddie!”

Axl:Â “It’s a dream realized. A dream come true. The right time, the right place and the whole thing came about by chance. I guess it’s meant to be. This was something we could not turn down. The most exciting thing is getting the band out there to begin doing some shows and these are some big shows. It’s a way for us to play for a lot of people and have a lot of fun. It’s also a warm up so we can have an understanding of how to start our Fall tour. And that’s a warm up for the Spring tour. This thing is starting now and much like Use Your Illusions that went for two and a half years, this thing is going to go off and on for the next two or three years and we’ll see how it goes. We’re really looking forward to seeing all the different people in the different countries and this is a great opportunity.”

Axl: “To the ones who are negative and want to see either myself or the new band fall on their faces, personally I can’t pass up an opportunity to upset so many of them in one quick swoop. I get misty-eyed just thinking about it. I feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside! But seriously…this is our tour. This is a collection of performances I’ve agreed to. That I have personally authorized not someone else’s good intentions gone awry or a reckless promoter’s personal agenda. These shows are important to us and for better or worse we’ll be there. For those who’ve had my back and are down by us with even a modicum of understanding we hope to give you our best, and look forward to seeing you on this little intro jaunt.”

17 – FÃ¸rste japanske show for over 35,000 tilskuere ved Summer Sonic Festivalen i Chiba Marine Stadium. GnR gik pÃ¥ kl 19:40 og sluttede knapt 2 timer efter.Â I starten af “Welcome To The Jungle“, skriger Axl “TOKYO!!!” lige som Robin begynder at spille. Efter at have brokket sig til sin lydmand, spÃ¸rger Axl publikum: “Did you have a good day? Itâ€™s very nice to see you again. I wanna thank everyone for coming tonightâ€¦ and, uh, itâ€™s so awesome to be playing with Weezer! Itâ€™s fuckinâ€™ cool! If you woulda told me we were gonna do a show or I could ever make that happen based on the way the last fucking 8 years have been, I wouldnâ€™t believe it!â€ Bandet starter derefter “Oh My God” i et par sekunder fÃ¸r de spiller “Think About You” i stedet. Efter “Madagascar“, laver Axl sjov: â€œI think I need myâ€¦ my little friend. Can I get a piano? Did you think weâ€¦ we were ever gonna come back over here? Iâ€™m talking to all of you here tonight. Did you think Iâ€™d ever get my ass back over here to Japan? I wanted to come back over to Japan. What do ya think of these bandâ€¦ this band? These motherfuckers worked pretty hard, huh? Think so? Donâ€™t know?â€ Efter Bucketheads solo, laver Axl en sjov Eric Cartman parodi. Under “Patience“, skriger Axl pludseligt “You got me trapped here!” Efter sangen forklarer han: “Iâ€™d like to run around a little more but Iâ€™m a little bit boxed in!” Mod slutningen af “Rocket Queen“, rÃ¥ber Axl igen: â€œYou know what I like!â€ Axl prÃ¦senterer bandet i slutningen af “Nightrain“. FÃ¸r “Paradise City“, siger Axl til publikum: â€œIâ€™d like to thank youâ€¦ Iâ€™d like to thank you for having us tonight. I apologize for taking so long to get back here. I know 1 word â€“ domo! [Oversat betyder det “Tak” pÃ¥ dansk]â€ I slutningen af sangen, rÃ¥ber Axl: â€œTokyo, I just wanna say, youâ€¦ know how to rock! Thank you!!â€SÃ¦tliste: Welcome to the Jungle, It’s So Easy, Mr. Brownstone, Live and Let Die, Think About You, You Could Be Mine, Sweet Child O’ Mine, Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door, Out Ta Get Me, Buckethead solo, Rhiad And The Bedouins, Madagascar, November Rain, The Blues, Buckethead solo, Patience, Rocket Queen, Robin Finck solo, Chinese Democracy, Nightrain, Paradise City

Axl: “Well, it appears that we’re gonna have an interesting evening…. You see, the city council and the promoters say we have to like end the show. And they’ll say that I’m, they could say maybe I’m inciting a riot. Now I’m not, ‘cause I don’t want anyone to get arrested or anyone to get in trouble or anything like that. But I think we got a good seven or eight fuckin’ songs left at least. And I didn’t fuckin’ come all the way over to fuckin’ England to be told to go back fuckin home, by some fuckin’ asshole! All I’ve got for the last eight years is sh*t after sh*t after sh*t in the fuckin’ press and Axl’s this, Axl’s that. I’m here to play a fuckin’ show and we wanna play! So, if you wanna stay, I wanna stay and we’ll see what happens. Everybody… Nobody try to get in trouble or anything. Try to have a good time.” [lyt her]

26 – Udsolgt show for 12,500 tilskuere i London Arena, England. Under “Welcome To The Jungle” prÃ¸ver nogen at smide en KFC spand pÃ¥ scenen til Axl. SikkerhedsmÃ¦ndene smider den tilbage til publikum, men Axl ser det, og beder dem smide den tilbage, og han tager den pÃ¥ i et par minutter. Efter ‘Mr. Brownstone,’ siger Axl til publikum: “How you doin? I’m doin’ pretty good, thanks for asking. It’s good to be here in lively old England. See you didn’t even think I knew where I was! Um… I want to uh… I wanna say that I learned that I’m as big as a house! So I think I… I’m owed some rent money! I think that thereâ€™s a little pussy-ass writer over at NME that owes me some rent money… for livin’ inside my ass! Uh, just… just playin’ around. This is ‘Live And Let Die!‘” Efter “Chinese Democracy” siger Axl: “Now, there’s been some concern… that if we play 5 or 6 new songs, then there can’t that many more on the album. Au contraire mon frÃ¨re! We’re just playin’ the songs we’re not considering putting out as singles or anything. So you’ll get 18 songs and about 10 extra tracks. And when that… when the record company feels that has run [it’s] source, then you’ll get it all over again. And by that time, I should be done with the 3rd album! So we’ll see if all goes well boys and girls! And if Uncle Axl proves not to be an asshole – we’ll have to see, the jury’s still out.” Han vender sig mod Tommy og spÃ¸rger: “Wait, was that a rant? Does that qualify as a rant or was that just nonsense? It was under 5? OK, it’s… it doesn’t qualify, wasn’t long enough!” FÃ¸r “The Blues” spÃ¸ger Axl: “What’s that smell? Did I sh*t my pants? What the f*ck! I think I… I think I sh*t my riches! Uh, we’re gonna keep the piano out. Bring down… Mr. Dizzy Reed. Mr. Dizzy Reed, please report to the black courtesy piano. Please report to the black courtesy piano, Mr. Dizzy Reed!“. Axl’s bukser falder ned under “Patience“. Se her.SÃ¦tliste: Intro,Welcome To The Jungle, It’s So Easy, Mr. Brownstone, Live And Let Die, Think About You, You Could Be Mine, Robin Finck solo, Sweet Child O’ Mine, Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door, Out Ta Get Me, Chinese Democracy, Madasgascar, Rhiad & The Bedouins, Buckethead solo (Nunchucks & Star Wars), Axl Piano Solo, November Rain, The Blues, Buckethead solo 2, Rocket Queen, Patience, My Michelle, Nightrain, Robin Finck solo 2, Paradise City

27 – NME.com talte med Axl, der lovede at “Chinese Democracy” ville have 18 sange med “10 ekstra sange” oveni. Han tilfÃ¸jede:Â “Just because weâ€™ve only played five or six new songs, people think there mustnâ€™t be any other songs on the album. Au contraire, mon frÃ¨re!”

Axl:“Everything tends to go wrong in my world. Like, even going to soundcheck, the people wouldn’t let me down the street to go to the building. And then, the day of the show, they didn’t let us go down that street. I had to get out of the car, run past the police, and they’re telling me I have to stop, and I’m like,’ I’ve gotta sing.’ And the best part was, as I’m running down the street, I had to run past all the people lined up to get into the building, and they’re going, ‘Hey, there goes KID ROCK.’ I thought that was pretty funny.”

Axl: “The MTV thing was a lot of fun and… And we just basicly, we were working on putting that little medley together on that day cause we didn’t know we were playing it until a couple of days before it. Cause it was still in negotiations. So you know, we were really happy to be able to do that, it just umm, it was just… It just blew all of our minds. When, you know, we were out there and doing it, it was… When the curtain went up it was like is this really happening.”

Axl holdt en fest efter MTV optrÃ¦denen i Old Homestead, hvor pressen var forment adgang, som sikkert skyldtes den her udtalelse fra New York Post:”…appears to have pulled a Mickey Rourke and gotten enough plastic surgery to make him look more like a muppet than the sneering Guns Nâ€™ Roses frontman we know and love“Â .

06 – Conan O’Brien har GnRÂ med i sit indslag hvor han spÃ¥r om bandets fremtid:Â “After their recent appearance on the MTV Video Music Awards, Guns Nâ€™ Roses will be forced to change their name to Chubby McGoo and the guys that arenâ€™t Slash.”

08 – New York Daily News meddeler at Axl blev spottet i selskab med baseballspillerneÂ David Wells, David Cone and Pedro MartinezÂ ved China Club i Los Angeles.

13 – Slash fortalte i et interview med Steve Baltin fra Rolling Stone, at han danner et nyt band med hans gamle GnR venner Duff og Matt,Â “Iâ€™m doing a fu**ing record with me, [bassist] Duff [McKagan] and [drummer] Matt Sorum. Dave Pusher is playing guitar right now, and we got the baddest fu**ing, be-all, end-all rock & roll band.” De leder ogsÃ¥ efter en god rock n’ roll vokalist. “There are no rock & roll singers out there right now, and you know it as well as I do, except for the guys who have been around a long time.”

“We rehearsed all the Illusion songs [together]. “We had studio time in Chicago for three months. On like the last day, Axl shows up and all he wanted to work on was ‘November Rain’. So that set back the recording process. As for ‘Civil War’, I had to play it like 25 times until it was useable. My timing was so up and down because I was so weak. The whole time I kept telling the guys, ‘I don’t feel good, I’m really down,’ and they kept saying, ‘You’re just fucked up.’ [I said], ‘I’m not fucked up,’ I was sick from an opiate blocker I got from a doctor that [manager] Doug Goldstein took me to. I think he knew what effect it would have on me…I wanted to wait another week or so before we went in to the studio to record. Slash says that we couldn’t waste the money, and we had to do it that day. They all knew I was sick… It’s a great song, it came out great, but I’m sure had I not been in the position that they put me in I would have nailed it in one take. Slash called me on a Thursday, knowing that I was sick, and said, ‘We’re going in the studio this weekend.’ I said, ‘Dude, you know I can’t go, I’m sick from this bullshit medication.’ He said, ‘We can’t waste the money,’ and I said, ‘Don’t even tell me about wasting money, we know somebody who wasted plenty of fucking money!’ If one of them was sick, it would have been postponed! We just weren’t a team anymore.”

Jess Margera, CKY:Â “All of a sudden, Axl picked us. We had to cancel two sold-out shows in California and turn right full rudder all the way to Vancouver. We were at least 2,000 miles out of the way when we got the call. We’ve been driving for three days, but this is an awesome tour so it’s worth driving all that way. I’m psyched because that’s probably the biggest tour of this year. And we’ve all been fans of Guns N’ Roses for a long time. I got Appetite for Destruction when I was 10 years old, so I’ve been listening to that for a while. And I’m a big fan of [guitarist] Buckethead and Brain is a really awesome drummer. I can’t wait to hang out with him.”

Axl: “Basically the building manager just decided, and in our opinion prematurely, that the show was just canceled, and he didnâ€™t discuss it with anyone. He just announced it over the P.A.”

Slash:“Nothing surprises me. When he really has all his shit together, Axl is brilliant, so it’ll be happening. It just takes him a while to get around to it. As far as showing up to gigs? That’s all par for the course. We’ve all seen that movie. What better way to kick off a GUNS N’ ROSES tour than to miss the first gig?”

Fortus: “Shock and dismay — I mean, I didn’t even know what the hell was going on. Tommy and Dizzy were doing an interview backstage with Kurt Loder from MTV, and they heard the announcement that the show was canceled coming over the PA system in the arena. No one could believe it. And it was Robin’s birthday, too. It was such a drag. Apparently Axl had no idea, either, because he was on his way there. His plane was delayed, and we knew that he wasn’t going to make it to the soundcheck, but there was never any question that he’d be there in time for the gig. Apparently, the venue just pulled the plug. It was pretty disappointing. And even worse, when you turn on the TV and see people getting their teeth knocked out, it’s not something that you want to be a party to. So now the lawsuits will fly.” [Kilde]

08 – Show for 6100 tilskuere i Tacoma Dome, WA.Â Efter “Live And Let Die“, laver Axl sjov: “Tom, what do you think that was? Either it was cupcake or dog sh*t.” Efter ‘You Could Be Mine,’ siger Axl: “You didn’t think we’d be here, did you?” FÃ¸r “My Michelle“, kommenterer Axl pÃ¥ optÃ¸jerne i Vancouver: “So last night… it would appear… that, it seems to appear that someone actually called the police to meet me at the airport before they even canceled the show. That’s just… I guess that’s just my imagination that someone would possibly do such a thing. ‘Cuz we know that every single human being is an honest person. OK, back to fun and games. What song should we do? OK, uh… let’s do My Michelle“. Axl laver igen sjov fÃ¸r “Madagascar“: “Let’s see what we can f*ck with next. We’d like to thank CKY and we’d like to thank Mix Master Mike for coming here tonight to help entertain you folks. This is a song about… how professional racing really pisses me off – this is called ‘Mad-at-Nascar!‘” Under Bucketheadâ€™s solo, spiller han dele af “Big Sur Moon“, “Star Wars Theme“, “A Pirateâ€™s Life For Me” & “Hog Bitch Stomp“.SÃ¦tliste: Welcome To The Jungle, It’s So Easy, Mr. Brownstone, Live And Let Die, Think About You, You Could Be Mine, Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door, Robin Finck Solo, Sweet Child O’ Mine, Out Ta Get Me, My Michelle, Robin Finck Solo, Chinese Democracy, Madagascar, November Rain, The Blues, Buckethead solo, Rocket Queen, Patience, Nightrain, Robin solo, Paradise City

Jose Martinez, CDNow.com: “Rose and Company did not disappoint.â€ Martinez added, â€œAlthough the show was far from a sellout (it was about half-full), it was curious watching Guns Nâ€™ Roses play before a young, rabid crowd that at times just didnâ€™tâ€™ seem to get it â€” too busy moshing to â€˜Sweet Child oâ€™ Mine.â€™ But at the same time it was a refreshing welcome to the unscripted elements of rock that can prove dangerous, as they were in Vancouver, but also rewarding when it comes to seeing the power of rock first-hand.”

Kurt Loder, MTV News:“there wasnâ€™t quite enough of it to entirely overcome some annoying technical obstacles that laid in wait. The Dome is a boomy place at best; with only about half of its 22,500 seats occupied, as was the case with this show, the resulting sonic wallow often obscured the bandâ€™s remarkable precision. On top of that, singer Axl Roseâ€™s microphone line slowly deteriorated throughout the course of the two-hour-plus set: By the end, his trademark wail was jabbing in and out of the mix so erratically that he started overcompensating, and finished the night (we were told) with blown vocal cords.” [Kilde]

Michael Deeds, Idaho Statesman: “But it seems like someone is forgetting that when fans pay $30, $40 or $50 for a ticket, they expect to have fun. Rules are no fun. Neither is the occasional overzealous enforcement.”

Tommy (fÃ¸r showet):“When I took this gig, it was for the reason that no one else had – supposedly – ever done this in rock, resumed the band name with the leader and try to do a whole other thing, but still do the same thing. That’s the most interesting concept I can imagine. All I can to do eliminate that (skepticism) is show up and do my gig. I don’t really spend any time worrying about it, or giving it much thought. I’m working with this guy that I like working with, I like the music we’re playing. I think it’s turning out exactly that way. I don’t give a (crap) what people think, as long as they come out to the shows, and they have fun and we have fun.” [Kilde]

16 – Manageren for GM Place i Vancouver, Harvey Jones, udtalte sig om aflysningen af showet den 7. november.Â “It was cancelled after discussions with all the parties. In my view the cancellation of the show was the right thing to have happened at that time, given the circumstances and where he was. He wouldnâ€™t have been here on time. We donâ€™t know for sure exactly when he left, and we donâ€™t know how long it was going to take him to get through Customs and get to the building and how long it would have taken him to prepare to get up on the stage. But if all of that had gone perfectly he was still going to be too late to be able to perform.”

18 – Udsolgt show for 18,500 fans i Allstate Arena, Rosemont, IL.Â PÃ¥ et tidspunkt i showet siger Axl noget morsomt:”Psychologically, you could consider this a reunion tour, because Iâ€™ve managed to find enough pieces of my mind in order to be with you here tonight.”SÃ¦tliste: Welcome To The Jungle, It’s So Easy, Mr. Brownstone, Live And Let Die, Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door, Think About You, You Could Be Mine, Robin Solo, Sweet Child O’ Mine, Out Ta Get Me, Piano Intro, November Rain, Madagascar, Buckethead Solo, Rocket Queen, The Blues, My Michelle, Patience, Chinese Democracy, Nightrain, Robin Solo, Paradise City

19 – Et MTV interview med Slash, hvori han fortÃ¦ller lidt om den nuvÃ¦rende bandsituation, og jagten pÃ¥ en passende sanger.Â “This is fu**ing poor manâ€™s â€˜American Idol. Iâ€™ll know it when I hear it. Right off the bat, Iâ€™ll know. Weâ€™re just trying to find a really great fu**ing rock and roll singer, and itâ€™s really hard to find anybody that youâ€™d consider genuine, and itâ€™s also somebody whoâ€™s got to fit in with us. Itâ€™s not impossible, but itâ€™s not easy. It could be somebody known, or somebody unknown, whoâ€™s just a star and doesnâ€™t know it. (om en kvindelig sanger) Itâ€™s funny, we were joking about that yesterday, but I just donâ€™t see her (Courtney Love) being into it, all things considered. But you know what? We havenâ€™t exhausted that idea, letâ€™s put it that way.”

22 – Show for 9000 tilskuere i Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh, PA.Â Denne dato var oprindelige planlagt for Rupp Arena i Lexington, KY. Bandet gik pÃ¥ ca. 22:50. FÃ¸r “Patience” fortÃ¦ller Axl om en pige der ville have hans autograf: “…I was in this restaurant bar and… there was this girl ..and she seemed to be excited…and wanted an autograph, … then i finished eating and then she wanted to talk…. and then she proceeded to rip me into asshole…. i was like “where did you get that stuff?!?..” and she was like “I read the internet, i know what’s going on!”…(laughs) yeah there’s a fuckin’ reliable source there….. well, i find out what’s happening in my own band on the internet, so… it’s a handy tool, the internet…. this is song called Patience… ”SÃ¦tliste: Welcome To The Jungle, It’s So Easy, Mr. Brownstone, Live And Let Die, Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door, Think About You, You Could Be Mine, Robin Solo, Sweet Child O’ Mine, Out Ta Get Me, Madagascar, Piano Solo, November Rain, Buckethead Solo, Rocket Queen, The Blues, Patience, Chinese Democracy, Nightrain, Robin Solo, Paradise City

23 – John Soder fra Cleveland Platin Dealer, interviewer Dizzy Reed og Tommy Stinson omkring det lÃ¦nge ventede album. Stinson fortÃ¦ller at Axl levere mere sjÃ¦lfulde sange pÃ¥ det nye album. Stinson:Â “You really get to hear some different tones in his voice which donâ€™t lend themselves to traditional bluesy riff-rock. And the lyrics are a lot more in-depth, with deeper sentiment and emotion than some of the earlier stuff.” Dizzy fortÃ¦ller at han ikke bÃ¦rer nag til ex-medlemmerne af GnR, der er i fuld gang med at danne sig deres eget band:Â “I wish them the best. If they want to go out and hit the road, cool. No one can stop them. Theyâ€™re great players in their own right.”

Axl:“I did cancel the first show at six in the morning, but my manager told me he cancelled it and then didn’t. And then Clear Channel wanted us to fuck up because they wanted to end the tour. I got really sick. It had nothing to do with fur coats or basketball games.”

Axl: “The last time when we did it it was like, huh, a lot of people kinda pressuring to do it and thinking it was and stuff…and kinda talking me into it, you know, like, I psyched myself up. And, that US thing did really good for the guys in the band, I mean, they’re all still there, I mean, Bucket’s Bucket, you know, and he’s kinda been in the same trip he’s been before he was in, with us, and now he’s out, he’s kinda in a world of his own. But the rest of the guys, it did just enough that it helped everybody feel like a band and they stayed a band. So it worked out pretty good for us.”

Peter Luukko, First Union Center:“We were informed around 8 p.m. or so [Friday night] that Axl Rose was still in Manhattan and a helicopter was being sent to get him. Basically we were in touch with band management as to what the progress was, and at 10:45 we were informed [Rose] wasn’t coming. At that point a decision was made to make an announcement at 11:15, giving us a half-hour to get security in place and police backup from the city of Philadelphia. We did have some chairs thrown and some damage in the building, but all in all, considering the difficulty of the situation, we were able to get people out with no major injuries.” [Kilde]